DE102011102773A1 discloses a camera included in a housing which in a storage position can be included in a body part of the car and in a use position can be pivoted out of it, so that the camera can record an image rearward. The lens or window of the camera in the use position is situated directly beside the outer surface of the body part. Further, this device should have a movable house having a shape that in the use position aligns against the inner side of the body part. This makes the freedom of design and the pivotability of the housing limited and moreover entails insufficient closure against soiling, also within the body part.
Such a device has the disadvantage that the camera can record only a limited image due to the body. Conversely, the camera cannot pivot further out of the body because this jeopardizes the safety of, for example, fellow road users. Further, this device has the disadvantage that it soils rapidly, in particular an optical element, such as the lens, thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,200 discloses a passenger car having on opposite sides of the nose of the car, above the wheel houses thereof, in each case at least one camera in a camera housing. The housing is carried in a carrying bracket on a telescoping shaft or a linkage construction, so that the carrying bracket with the camera housing and the camera arranged therein can be moved between a first position in which these are situated within the body of the car and a second position in which the bracket with the camera housing have been brought outside the body. A lid hinged to the body can close off the cavity in which the camera housing and carrying bracket are stored in the first position. The lid is opened and closed by its own motor drive.
This construction has as a disadvantage, for one thing, that the camera house is particularly vulnerable in the second position, for instance if the vehicle inadvertently moves closely past an obstacle and the camera house is hit by the obstacle in the driving direction. In addition, the lid here needs to be kept in the opened position, which renders the construction still more vulnerable. Further, in the second position this device is only aerodynamic to a particularly low degree and this will lead to a relatively great deal of additional noise and soiling, in particular also of the cavity in which the camera housing can be stored.